The present invention is in the technical field of new and improved manually propelled snow removal vehicles, with two large wheels and tilting scoops for scooping up to one feet accumulation in driveways, sidewalks and around homes and buildings. More particularly the field of the present invention relates to the incorporation of a cart with a special framework configuration with a new type of mechanical mounted tilting scoop unit.
According to its embodiment, the present invention has been expressly designed for the removal of snow, so it cannot be used for ice cracking or for picking up and transporting heavy materials. However, the embodiment of the invention permits one exception in its use which is that it can perform as a garden cart to transport bags of soil, fertilizers and other light weight garden items, as long as it does not surpass a comparable weight to a snow full scoop.
The need to remove snow has become an activity that does not discriminate a person's age, impelling most people to use a conventional shovel consisting of a blade and handle. That simple tool in many cases can cause severe damages to health, especially to seniors, due to continuous efforts of bending, lifting and throwing of heavy loads. The brisk last exertion, needed to discharge a load from a shovel results in back aches, muscular strains and even heart failure, all of which has been repeatedly expressed in prior arts and at this time should be interpreted as a wake up call.
Different efforts of improvements have been made by stages, aiming to simplify the use of conventional shovels, like the addition of small wheels to shovels blades which eliminates exertions when pushing and transporting snow.
In another stage, the addition of levered handles mounted on wheel axles it's been acknowledged. A significant step taken to help eliminate users efforts of lifting and transporting of snow, although leaving unsolved the elimination of the last physical exertion needed to discharge the load of snow, usually done by using arms and bodies.
In a later stage, a solution emerged in the heavy task of having to briskly throw loads of snow from blades or scoops to complete the whole operation of removing the snow. A tilting scoop mounted on the lower end of levered handles or frames, partially eliminated said last exertion for users. However, all these successful innovations still offer opportunities for improvements as it will be described further on in the present invention's description.
Examples of apparatuses equipped with tilting shovels or scoops pivotally mounted on handles or frames equipped with wheels are:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,302,894 to Sam F. Emma in Dec. 1, 1981, discloses a pivoted shovel on a roller of two small wheels; said wheels sizes limiting the elevation of the shovel.
U.S. Patent application No 2005/0160632 A1 of Jul. 28, 2005 to Cyril Williams, discloses a scoop pivotally mounted to the lower end of a frame, and upon activation of a release lever on the scoop head discharges its load. However the small sizes of its wheels allows a limited elevation of the scoop to release its load when the user exerts downward pressure on the handle bar.
U.S. Patent application No 2009/0320331 A1 of Dec. 31, 2009 to Johans S. Adinata, discloses a snow shovel with a spring-loaded shovelhead. A small wheel assembly acting as a fulcrum is attached to the device for easy handling of a snow load; the shovel head being able to tilt downward against a spring loaded mechanism. Like in the previous example the shovel elevation is limited by the small size of the wheel.
A common limitation in the aforementioned example (consisting in fulcrums too close to the ground surface, mainly due to the small sizes of the wheels which translates into a considerable effort for users when bearing down on handlebars) was improved with the use of large sized wheels in apparatuses like the ones indicated below:
U.S. Pat. No. 6,735,887 Manual snowplough, issued to Mohiuddin Muzzamel on May 18, 2004, discloses a snowplough that has a handle on one end and a large snow scoop on the other. The plough is supported on a frame that is mounted on a pair of large wheels placed well behind the snow scoop. Said wheeled plow limitation derives from the fact that the scoop is fixedly attached to the frame and therefore has no tilting movement.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,111,418 issued on Sep. 26, 2006 to Mark Noonan et. al, discloses an apparatus comprising a shovel disposed on a single relatively large wheel. The apparatus involves a shovel having a handle formed at the end of an elongated yoke, the yoke being mounted at its middle portion onto the axle of a relatively large wheel for the purpose of picking up of a load, transporting it to a location, and propelling the load overboard with a quick arm/body motion on the part of a person operating the handle. The substantially waist-high wheel is adapted to receive the body force of an operator as an effective leverage through the handle and cause a recoil action from the wheel to enhance the throwing power of the apparatus of the invention comprising the shovel, the wheel and the yoke as a driving member.
Now, said Mark Noonan invention being disclosed, with a sophisticated mechanical device that enhances the throwing power, is an innovation. However, because the Noonan apparatus has a shovel mounted in one single wheel, its operators have to make additional physical efforts, first to maintain the lateral balance of the apparatus while pushing it to transport its load toward a selected dumping place, and second, as it is claimed on its own patent application, a final physical exertion must be made by an operator “applying a quick arm/body motion”, walking in haste to throw its load overboard, an operation that may find a complication mainly when an accumulation of snow surpasses one foot in areas adjacent to driveways and sidewalks. Said disadvantages of the referred invention need to be solved, focusing on improving load discharge with a different mechanical approach related to the shovel. Its current system does not thoroughly ensure eliminating users exertions.
To summarize, although it is apparent that current state of the art of apparatuses equipped with large wheels and tilting scoops involved in the removal of snow in driveways and sidewalks, intend to cover all the functions needed to safely complete a whole operation of removal, they still seem to offer opportunities for further innovations and improvements.